"I Dream of Rain"

Since childhood, says Caroline James, she has been fascinated by composition, “by the effect of various combinations of lines and shapes and colours in a given volume of space.” From its earliest expression – obsessively rearranging furniture in her family home – that fascination gave way ultimately to the MFA program at the University of Saskatchewan. There she entered an intense period of re-evaluating the process of painting, exploring ideas of authentic mark-making and automatism. Her concentration on process is integral to her work today. Her canvases bear layers of paint, patches of exposure, spontaneous strokes and textures that embellish, together with marks made with drawing media. Combining formal compositional discipline with what she calls an “aggressive, intuitive and gestural process,” her fluid abstractions beckon the eye toward figures that emerge, momentarily, from obscurity and then recede. James’ work can be seen at LindaLando Fine Art in Vancouver through the summer. She is also represented by Agnes Bugera Gallery, Edmonton; Upstairs Gallery, Winnipeg; Collector’s Choice, Saskatoon; Artspace, Calgary; Fran Willis Gallery in Victoria and Robin Atlas Fine Art Consulting, Seattle.